What RDs Do: Andres Ayesta, MS, RDN, CSCS, CSSD, LD

ANDRES AYESTA

VIVE NUTRITION

for something nutrishus

Andres had an interesting path to lead him to dietetics, but it seems that he has already accomplished a lot in his career, so I feel his goals are within reason. Like Andres, I was attracted to the profession due to prevention rather than treatment. He reminds us that dietitians (not dieticians) are continually learning and very passionate individuals; something this series continue to remind me of. 

Why did you become a RD?

I grew up wanting to be a doctor. I remember playing with toy stethoscopes and a lab coat since I was 5. When I graduated high school, my dream was shattered when I didn’t get into med school. In Venezuela, where I am from, Nutrition and Dietetics school was part of the same School of Medicine in the school I went to. I figured I would just enrol in that major, and then switch over since it was less competitive. Well I never switched. I realized that my job as an RD could have more value as I was providing people with quality of life, and preventing disease vs. treating it.

What area of dietetics do you work in?

Sports Nutrition and Weight Management

How would you explain what you do?

I run a private practice that aims to provide tools and strategies to improve lifestyles via nutrition knowledge at the same time as working with elite and pro-level athletes at the Applied Science and Performance Institute (ASPI), aiming to optimize sports performance and overall athlete health.

What are your ‘typical’ daily/weekly tasks?

• Create content for social media platforms. I started creating video recipes weekly on my Instagram back in November last year. I post every Monday.
• Nutrition coaching with clients along with meal planning and other supportive materials required for them to have
• Administrative work (Office supplies, accounting, etc.)
• Research and Continuing Education. I try to read at least one nutrition article from a peer-reviewed journal weekly, and listen to one nutrition and fitness related podcast to stay up to date on the latest.
• I make room to stay fit and exercise. I like to lift heavy things, and get my heart rate up pushing my boundaries. As an RD I believe we need to sell what we are, and taking care of yourself is a must for that.

What has been your career path?

I moved to the U.S. in 2009 from Venezuela to continue to dietetics degree at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, IN. In 2012, I received my Bachelor’s of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics, and was accepted to the University of Houston Dietetic Internship where I completed rotations at the Texas Medical Center. In 2013 I was hired as a sports nutrition coach at IMG Academy, a state-of-the-art athletic facility for high performance athletes. In 2016 I received my Masters Degree in Exercise Science and Sports Nutrition. I also founded my private practice Vive Nutrition in 2016. In 2017 I was hired as the Sports Dietitian for the APSI in Tampa, FL overseeing nutrition and fuelling for all-level athletes. My goals are to become a leader in sports nutrition, and possibly work with pro sports like NFL and MLB.

What advanced education or special training do you have?

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS)

Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD)

In an ideal world, what does the industry look like 5 years from now?

This is a great question. We (millennials) are in a time of progressiveness in health and fitness that is amazing. More and more people are starting to become more active and have geared their focus towards understanding the importance of healthy eating. In an ideal world I think we should leverage that interest to continue to grow as nutrition professionals defending our expertise to avoid misinformation provided by various media channels. We will live in a world where people will recognize our value as RDs to provide knowledge to lead healthier and better lifestyles, ultimately understanding that it is better to prevent than to treat medical ailments.

What misinformation about RDs would you like to clear up?

All RDs are different. We have specialties just like doctors do. A lot of people don’t understand that not all RDs are able to help them if their problems go beyond their areas of expertise. When looking for an RD to work with, make sure you find one that aligns with your expectations and explain to them what you are looking for to make sure you can both work together.

What would you like people to know about RDs?

We are humans, we eat everything. I feel judged everytime I eat a slice of pizza or a cupcake lol. There is room for everything people, Geez!

What are challenges you encounter as a RD?

Finding yourself competing with Non-RDs “Nutrition Coaches” and “Nutrition experts” who grow their audiences in social media, and sell nutrition “solutions” and “shortcuts” for fat loss, with generic programs with little to no customization. People are different. It is a pet peeve to me to deal with misinformation out there. I also encounter the challenge of people spelling Dietitian with C instead of a T. That’s a NO NO.

What do people think that you do for a living?

Write diet plans all day long. I get asked for these even at late hours of social events. 

What are you passionate about in dietetics?

That smile from people when they tell me I have been an instrumental part of their lifestyle change. Knowing I am making an impact in the future of people even if they do not see it immediately. When working with athletes, seeing them progress in their sport and that feeling of knowing nutrition has a large impact in their outcomes and results. That fires up my passion every day!

What makes RDs unique/different from other nutrition/wellness professionals?

The intense education and training we receive. Only those who have a deep passion to this field make good RDs.

What is your favourite meal?

Pizza all day!

More about Andres:

Instagram: @vivenutrition

YouTube: VIvenutrition (*for awesome weekly video recipes). 

Blog: VIVE nutrition

Email: andres@vive-nutrition.com

Thanks Andres! Find out more about What RDsDo.

If you're a dietitian that would like to be featured, email me for the details!

What RDs Do: Melissa Baker, MHSc, RD

MELISSA BAKER

UBC MANAGER OF NUTRITION & WELLBEING

BLOGGER

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I know Melissa through Dietitians of Canada and she's a dietitian in the series that I have met several times in real life! If you've been following the series, you may have noticed the variety of tasks dietitians do and that we often don't have 'typical' days or traditional paths to our current roles. I love that her current role has wellbeing right in the title, especially since she's passionate about preventative nutrition. I would say that my professional goals are in-line with Melissa's, so I'm glad we're on the same team!

Why did you become a RD?

I didn’t discover the profession until the third year of my microbiology degree at UBC Okanagan when I was looking at the list of professional programs available at UBC. I was feeling discouraged by the job opportunities available after graduating with a major in microbiology and wanted to explore other opportunities. Dietetics jumped out at me right away. I loved food, cooking and inspiring others to eat well. It seemed like the perfect match. So I switched majors to Food, Nutrition and Health and moved to UBC Vancouver to pursue it! 

What area of dietetics do you work in?

I do a bit of everything! My full-time job is with Student Housing and Hospitality Services at the University of British Columbia. I work as the Manager of Nutrition and Wellbeing. This job is varied in itself, but I also manage the Practice Blog for Dietitians of Canada, write for the Huffington Post and my own blog upbeet.ca, and volunteer for the Dietitians of Canada Board of Directors. 

How would you explain what you do?

With all my roles, my goal is to work towards bettering the health and wellbeing of Canadians by focusing on prevention and making healthy eating easier, while also promoting the dietetics profession. 

What are your ‘typical’ daily/weekly tasks?

I don’t have many “typical” days. But, some of the wide variety of things I do include providing one-on-one counselling with students living in residence at UBC, as well as education and training for students and Student Housing and Hospitality Services staff on a variety of nutrition related topics. I also co-chair the UBC Wellbeing Food and Nutrition Working Group, which some other awesome RDs at UBC sit on. I work with our culinary team to make sure we are offering healthy, balanced menu options, including many entrees with plant-based proteins. I do allergy training with staff so they know how to ensure our students with allergies get a safe meal. And I am working on a big labelling project to ensure we are providing accurate and accessible nutrition, allergen, and ingredient information to our customers. Outside of my day job, I spend some evenings and weekends writing and editing articles, testing recipes for my blog, and catching up on Board work. 

What has been your career path? 

I started out working in clinical dietetics for a health authority in BC, mostly working with patients with diabetes and doing outpatient counselling. After I decided working in this area wasn’t for me (I wanted to work in a more preventative focused setting), I went back to school to do my master’s degree at Ryerson University. Following that, I worked for the BC Dairy Association as a nutrition educator before starting in my current role at UBC. I also spent some time doing contract work on a variety of projects and working as a retail dietitian during my first couple years of practice. 

What advanced education or special training do you have?

I did a Master of Health Science in Nutrition Communication at Ryerson University. 

In an ideal world, what does the industry look like 5 years from now?

My vision for the profession for five years from now aligns well with Dietitians of Canada’s key priority: “Policy makers and the public acknowledge that nutrition is a primary contributor to improving health and that the dietitian profession’s unique body of knowledge and skills makes an integral contribution to health improvement.” We are definitely working towards that but we have a ways to go. 

I would also love to see universities expanding their programs to allow more dietitians to enter the workforce. This is vital if we want to keep up with unregulated nutrition professionals. 

What is your favourite meal?

Fish tacos shared with family and friends! (Or a traditional turkey dinner with lots of stuffing and Brussel sprouts!) 

More about Melissa:

Instagram: @upbeetrd

Twitter: @upbeetRD

Facebook: Up Beet

LinkedIn: Melissa Baker, MHSc, RD

Thanks Melissa! Find out more about What RDsDo.

If you're a dietitian that would like to be featured, email me for the details!

What RDs Do: Noura Sheikhalzoor, RD, MSc (candidate)

NOURA SHEIKHALZOOR
MSc CANDIDATE, RESEARCHER

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We are excited to feature another local Registered Dietitian (RD) today! I worked with Noura on our Nutrition Month campaign, but as you will see, she is very busy and involved in our community. She is both a student and a teacher; Noura is a Master of Science Candidate in Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan.

Why did you become a RD?

I have always been interested in health. I have a unique journey being a graduate from an overseas dietetics program in the United Arab Emirates. When I first started university, I did not know that a nutrition and dietetics major existed. Once I learned about it, it fired a big interest in me to proceed with nutrition and dietetics as my study and career path. I have always loved organic and biochemistry, biology, and physiology. During the university years, I loved all the science, food and nutrition classes and labs. After the completion of my four years B.Sc. program with a dietetic internship, I moved to Canada with my family. 

Becoming a Registered Dietitian in Canada was the second big step in my journey. My family first settled in Mississauga, Ontario, and there, I completed the Internationally Educated Dietitians Pre-registration Program at Ryerson University to be able to practise dietetics in Canada. 

Working with people in different settings, in issues related to their health has always been a motivator for me.

What area of dietetics do you work in? 

Currently, I am working in research and in university teaching as these are the main parts of my M.Sc. degree. My research interests are: nutrition program planning and evaluation, food security, food environments and food systems. I am involved in teaching parts of some undergraduate nutrition courses at the university, graduate teaching and professional skills. I do some presentations and workshops on my own in academic and community settings on food systems, food and culture, general healthy eating, and on cooking skills. I also volunteer at a few health organizations such as the Canadian Diabetes Association and the Canadian Cancer Society, and food organizations such as the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre and Saskatoon Food Council.

How would you explain what you do?

In three word: interesting, new, and adventurous. My research lab is the community, which always brings new ideas and allows me to build new relationships. My research project is a program evaluation study, where I am using qualitative research methods to ask about the nutrition knowledge, skills, and behaviours of children after participating in an after school cooking program.

I love teaching and worked as a teacher for years before my M.Sc. program. At the University of Saskatchewan, I am working as a teaching assistant in several courses teaching some labs and facilitating discussion groups, where I enjoy the interaction with students and future RDs (as I love to call them).

What are your ‘typical’ daily/weekly tasks?

As a researcher and a dietitian, I keep up-to-date with the nutrition information and news, so I typically start my day with a fast read of the nutrition and food news and research articles. I usually have several meetings during my day for event organization or with my research supervisor or students. I also work on tasks related to my research and teaching such as interviewing, reading, writing, preparing a presentation or a research poster. I attend many workshops and learning opportunities live and online on nutrition, health, teaching, and professional development. To do that efficiently, I do lots of planning and communication during my day, so I keep organized and work effectively with people.

What has been your career path?

My career path is unique, but not long. I completed an internship in the United Arab Emirates at one of the largest hospitals: Sheikh Khalifa Medical City – managed by Cleveland Clinic in the three main dietetic practice areas: food services management, clinical, and community nutrition. I completed my dietetics practicum in Ontario in a long term care home’s food service and public health unit, and in a complex continuing care rehab hospital. From these experiences, I found that I am very interested in health promotion and disease prevention through community and public health programs and policies. I started my M.Sc. studies in community nutrition to learn more about nutrition programs and policies to improve community and public health. During that time, I worked with programs such as Kids Kitchen teaching grades 4 and 5 how to cook, and helped with Dietitians of Canada’s nutrition month campaign in Saskatchewan.

What advanced education or special training do you have?

I always seek learning and training opportunities. I have taken courses, attended conferences, and completed workshops and webinars on different topics related to nutrition, health, professional development, and teaching. I took some nutrition courses offered by Dietitians of Canada. I also completed cooking classes from programs: Start from Scratch, Demos for Dietitians, and Collective Kitchens Leadership. I am also working to complete my Master Gardener Certificate from the University of Saskatchewan. In my learning journey, I connect the dots between my different learnings. For example, I am learning about cooking and gardening to have better connection of the food system’s elements and better understanding of how they relate to people’s lives.

In an ideal world, what does the industry look like 5 years from now?

Speaking from my interest in food systems and experience, in five years I would like to see more dietitians involvement in food systems issues providing evidence-based knowledge and information in the communities to improve their food security status and health. I also see dietitians filling a variety of roles in improving the health of the community and the food system, where food is celebrated from farm to fork. I would like to see more dietitians improving current policies in food and nutrition and making new policies that make a difference in improving population health.

What misinformation about RDs would you like to clear up?

There is misinformation about RDs in the community. Many people think that we work only in weight loss or that we are the food police. We do much more than weight loss meal plans. Our roles are diverse and we connect the issues related to food and nutrition on different levels: individuals, groups, communities, and nations. Dietitians are not the food police. We love food and that is why we work closely with it and keep talking about it. Many people think that dietitians don’t eat enough or don’t enjoy eating. In reality, dietitians eat all kinds of food and enjoy it as mindfully as possible. There are many foodie dietitians too (unfortunately I am not one of them, but I am always happy to see and know them)!

What are challenges you encounter as a RD?

Any profession has its own challenges. Food is a sensitive topic and something that is very closely related to everyone’s culture and beliefs, so challenging pseudoscience and people’s beliefs in nutrition myths is really hard.

What are you passionate about in dietetics?

I am passionate about all aspects of dietetics. I am passionate about food and health and human interactions with them and the everyday trends that we see. Specifically, I am very passionate about improving the food systems and community health and interested in upstream thinking. I am interested in health promotion and disease prevention through healthy eating and positive lifestyle changes.

What makes RDs unique/different from other nutrition/wellness professionals?

No one can call themselves a dietitian or registered dietitian in Canada unless they have the proper qualifications. This means that our profession is regulated to protect the public, because RDs are evidence-based and they have a comprehensive understanding of science, food, and human behaviour. Also, RDs are much cooler!

What is your favourite meal? 

My favourite meal is breakfast! I feel really creative with it and look forward to it every morning. I like to include a protein, carbohydrate and fibre, and a healthy fat source. I use whole grains, dairy, and seeds when I eat hot or cold cereal in the morning or when I make a sandwich or an egg dish. Speaking of breakfast, I will show you a breakfast that is inspired from my cultural background. Here a Syrian breakfast, where people have a variety of small dishes that include: egg (hard boiled or scrambled), Syrian cheese, jam or honey, herbs blend (zaatar) with olive oil, fava beans or chickpeas, pickled eggplant with nuts, vegetables, and more. Syrians like to drink tea with that and they use pita bread to eat some of these foods.

What tip(s) would you give to our readers?

I would like to give the readers the following tips:
· Eat food mindfully and enjoy the process of selecting, preparing, cooking, and eating.
· If you can have a food garden or grow some food or herbs indoor, do that.
· Learn about your food by reading and talking to people (or a RD) about it. Read food labels. Try new recipes.
· Learn about other people’s cultures and food. It could inspire you in so many ways.
· Keep working towards your career passion and keep improving your professional skills.

Anything else you’d like to add that you feel would be valuable:

I always say that: everyone eats, so everyone is interested in nutrition and touched by food everyday multiple times a day, and that is why our job is very important. Always remember that RDs are always on your side!

More about Noura:

Twitter: @Nouraszoor
LinkedIn: Noura Sheikhalzoor
Instagram: @noura.szoor

Thanks Noura! Find out more about What RDsDo.

If you're a dietitian that would like to be featured, email me for the details!

Pulses, Plants, and Prostates

Perhaps you or the men in your life are sporting a 'stache for Movember.  It's great to see people supporting men's health issues such as prostate cancer and bringing these issues to the forefront so that people feel comfortable talking about them.

As a dietitian, my first instinct is to look for ways to reduce the risk of prostate cancer and other chronic conditions with food.  It is often impossible to pinpoint one particular cause and as new research comes out, we may find new strategies.  However, often times the recommendations for one disease state are applicable to others, so we can all start eating to prevent disease and/or reduce our risk.   

To make the most of your food choices:

• increase your intake of fruits and vegetables (include a variety of colours)
• reduce your fat intake (this is also beneficial for heart health and weight management)
• increase your intake of plant foods (vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, chickpeas, lentils...) and reduce your intake of animal foods (dairy, meat...); it's still important to get adequate calcium and vitamin D, just don't overdo it
• include fish to make sure you're getting omega-3 fatty acids
• if consuming alcohol, do so in moderation
• increase your intake of isoflavones (soybeans, tofu, kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, peanuts)
• maintain a healthy diet
• include regular activity/exercise

Certain foods may offer extra protection against prostate cancer including lycopene (found in tomatoes, tomato sauces, watermelon, grapefruit...), selenium (Brazil nuts, fish, poultry, sunflower seeds...), and vitamin E (vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables...).  As always, include a variety of different foods as no one food can give us everything we need.

Only a few more weeks until the razors come out!

Steph Langdon, RD
something nutrishus counselling & coaching
www.nutrishus.com

Make Healthy Eating a Priority

People take all kinds of actions to treat their ailments, but unfortunately not as many to prevent them in the first place. Someone recently told me that in Canada we say we have a Health Care system, but we really have an Illness Care system and I kind of have to agree. Why not take a stance for your own health and well being? We cannot change our age, family history, or ethnic background, but we can control what we feed our bodies and how we move them. Healthy eating and regular physical activity combine for a healthier you.

By creating healthy eating and activity habits, you may help reduce your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain types of cancer and osteoporosis while providing many benefits such as:

• Better overall health
• Lower risk of disease
• A healthy body weight
• Feeling and looking better
• More energy
• Stronger muscles and bones¹

If you think you don't have time to eat well - think again. You can create time for grocery shopping, meal preparation, and time to sit and enjoy great food. Yes, you may have to shift other things in your life, but the time is there for you to create a healthier future for yourself.

There are solutions to whatever barriers you feel to eating well and being active.

¹Maintaining Healthy Habits. Health Canada. 2007.

Steph Wheler

www.nutrishus.com